REhash

Not at all your question is a very good one and not at all talked to death. When I read it I said the real answer has not been ever said.

The story behind it- The way the Roach Studio was paid was the theater owners who showed the shorts paid Roach for each week they showed their short.

In 1934 the theater owners asked Roach to produce some shorts where the kids were in some type of theatrical show or something like it. Then in August 1934 " Mike Fright " hit the theaters. It quickly became a huge hit the theater owners loved it ,the audiences loved it so the theater owners kept playing it. I became the greatest hit that Roach made with the Our Gang series. The theater owners put pressure on Roach to make more like it. Not that it had to be a Children's amateur radio show but a show like it where children competed showing their talents. Roach put "Beginner's Luck" into the 1934/ 1935 schedule and got theirpeople working on it. Any student will tell you their were many mistakes and many characters changing actors and script changes galore. I fact Hal Roach saw Alfalfa and his brother performing and had them written intothis short. The belief is it was filmed in November 1934. When it was released in February 1935 the theater owners loved it , Roach had given them exactly what they wanted. So to pay Roach back they played "BL" for a very ling time some played it for 9 months. So that's how it became the most successful of all the Rascals shorts. If you notice from that point there were shorts with the kids in some type of theatrical nature every now and then in each yr.

This short wasn't a hit because Spank's Mother lost her dress it was a hit because it's what the theater owners wanted. It's critical success was another story.